Verizon London data centre robbed

11th Dec 09:53

A Verizon Business data centre located near King's Cross station in London, England was broken into Thursday night, the Metropolitan Police said on Friday. Three to five men posing as policemen duped their way into the facility, tying up staff and stealing computing equipment at 9:17 p.m. local time on Thursday.

Dressed as policemen, the criminals tricked data centre employees into allowing them into the building, claiming that there were reports of people on the roof of the facility. They then tied up five staff members before stealing computing equipment that included motherboards, said the Metropolitan Police.

A member of the facility staff contacted police at 10:06 p.m. While none of the employees were physically harmed, one had to be treated for shock.

So far, no arrests have been made, but the investigation into the incident has been transferred from Camden Criminal Investigation Department to the Serious and Organised Crime Command, which has "a greater capacity for specialist investigations", said a Metropolitan Police spokesperson.

The company says it is unsure right now of the total value of the equipment stolen or if any of its customers experienced any downtime or loss of data due to the incident. However, it did confirm that the facility had "experienced an equipment related incident" on Thursday at approximately 9:17 p.m.

"Verizon Business services remained operational during this period," said Verizon in a statement. "Verizon Business continues to work with all appropriate groups in undertaking a thorough investigation of the incident. It is not appropriate to comment further at this time."

The company announced last week it partnered with videoconferencing solution provider Tandberg, wireless hardware provider Mesh City and the Freedom Calls Foundation to facilitate an international videoconference between marines in Camp Fallujah and Al Asad Air Base in Iraq and their families at Camp Pendleton, California.